WHITEHALL — A prominent developer is suing Whitehall Township in an attempt to void a controversial zoning change that would allow an affordable housing project on Quarry Street in the former Fuller Sportswear building.

Two companies owned by developer Abe Atiyeh filed suit last week in Lehigh County Court, alleging the township was unable to fully notify all those potentially affected by the zoning change.

The Atiyeh properties involved in the suit — 212 Quarry St. and 855 Third St. — are located in the same neighborhood as the proposed Lofts at Fullerton project to redevelop the former Fuller mill.

After several stops and starts, the Board of Commissioners voted Oct. 24 to finalize a zoning change designed to find new uses for the township’s vacant garment mills in some residential neighborhoods.

The zoning change makes it easier for buildings like the former Fuller Sportswear mill to be redeveloped by loosening some requirements, including the parking. Normally, a residential project would require two parking spaces for each apartment, but the new zoning ordinance lowers that to 1.2 spaces per unit.

In order to pursue affordable or multifamily housing under the ordinance, a qualifying building would have to be vacant or underused for three or more consecutive years. Structures must be at least 5,000 square feet and at least 50 years old.

During the public hearing on the ordinance in October, the township posted notices of the changes at 16 properties in the township that could be affected, and mailed copies of the proposal to those buildings’ owners.

John VanLuvanee, the attorney representing Atiyeh’s companies, spoke publicly against the ordinance this summer. In the lawsuit, he says that the 16 properties notified about the ordinance are likely not a full inventory of those affected.

“In addition and as a practical matter, such a study may be impossible because qualifying properties are not definite and change from year to year,” VanLuveanee writes in the complaint.

Property owners who showed up in October expressed worries that the zoning change would force them out of their buildings, but township solicitor Charles Fonzone assured them that would not be the case.

PathStone’s project had been stalled since its denial by the township Zoning Hearing Board in 2014. Last year, the nonprofit filed a complaint with U.S. Housing and Urban Development, alleging the township denied the project on discriminatory grounds. HUD has the ability to yank community block grants from the township, which since 1991 has received a total of $1.1 million.

Though Fonzone and the commissioners emphatically denied allegations of fair housing discrimination in their original rejection of PathStone’s plan, they explained that potential federal lawsuits left them in a bind. The township faced the possibility of losing grants and paying court costs, which was motivation enough to seek a compromise to help PathStone move on with the project, Fonzone explained.